A crafty weekend

Hello there! Thanks for calling in. It's been a hot and sunny weekend here on the North Norfolk coast, unlike much of the UK, and we've been making the most of it, with some lovely al fresco meals. Mr JK has come up trumps in the vegetable stakes again this year. We picked some broad beans, and had Delia Smith's broad bean salad for lunch today, with some warm pitta bread. I love podding broad beans. They look so cosy inside their pods. I'm always reminded of the children's song 'Paintbox', all about fruits and vegetables, and the line ...........'broad beans are sleeping in their blankety bed' .........., and it's true, they are! Look at this little lot that I disturbed today!

We also picked our first cucumbers and tomatoes, and had them with a bbq for supper. The tomatoes were delicious - so sweet and full of flavour. I hope that we'll be picking them right through to the autumn now.
I've been busy on my swap items, but can't show them to you yet, just in case Nancy or Ethmay are reading this! I've finished the knitted items for Ethmay's teatime swap, and I am really pleased with what I've made. I hope she will be too! I just need to buy a couple of treats and then the parcel will be ready to post. I'm having great fun getting to know Nancy over on Ravelry too . She's got a wicked sense of humour, and it's going to be a great swap, I just know it! I've started a knitted project for her, and I love the colours in the yarn I've chosen. I can't wait to show it to you all!
Remember I told you that I grafted the toe of my first Jaywalker sock last weekend? It's made it onto the sock blocker now. The yarn is lovely and soft - it's merino, soy and nylon. See what you think.

I've also blocked my Inga bag. It needed some not so gentle tugging and pinning to stretch it out, and it's still not perfect. But hey, I can live with it! I think that I must have crocheted the squares together a little too tightly, but it certainly looks a lot better now that it's blocked into something resembling a bag shape! Here it is all pinned out (and no, I don't co-ordinate my towels to match whatever I'm blocking! This one was top of the pile in the airing cupboard!)

I've chosen some fabric to line it with, so I need to be brave now and have a go with the sewing machine! I did go as far as getting it out of its box, and it's sitting on the table, but I need to get a few scraps of fabric from school first and have a little play around before I try with the lining fabric. I love the little pattern on it, don't you?

Hopefully next week, I'll have a couple of finished bags to show you! I also bought some fabric to make some little lined project bags with, and have found a super online tutorial which I'll share with you next time. Here's the fabric I chose. I think it must be related to the lining I bought first, don't you? Those black squiggles look similar!

I received a lovely squishy parcel from Ethmay this week - some mini skeins of yarn for my sock yarn blankie. Henrycat never likes to think that he's missing out on anything, and he was reluctant to let me get a proper look at all the little balls.

I'm sure you'd like a proper look too, wouldn't you? Here they are again, minus the cat!

There are some lovely yarns there, including Jitterbug, Cherry Tree Hill, and two that I've not come across before - Old Maiden Aunt and Ripples. Hmmmmmmmmm, I need to do some more investigating I think! I'm really hoping to get stuck into the blankie over the summer holidays. I've got loads of yarn just begging to become mitred squares!
With all my swap-making this weekend, I wanted to do something quick for myself. I've been admiring other people's little crocheted birds from Attic24, and decided that today was the day for me to make one! So I did. I used up oddments of Patons Sorbet yarn left over from the Attic24 bag. He's quite chunky - obviously a well fed birdie! I've hung him up in my craft room.

Have a lovely week, whatever you've got planned! See you soon. xx